The Best is Yet to Come

Ya know when you get to a certain point in your relationship that marriage is the next step? Well...Mike & I have been at that point for quite some time. We would talk about getting married, joke about getting married, get upset when it was time to leave each other after only a few short hours and then talk about getting married while we drove to our respective houses...we'd even talked about rings...what shape, size...what did I like, what did he like. We talked about where, when, how, etc. We talked until we were both tired of talking about getting married.

Then I relived nearly EVERY one of those conversations with my sisters...sometimes when we were all together...sometimes I had to relive each one to each sister individually...TALKING about getting married was very tiresome.

Plus...my sisters were ALL talking amongst themselves about me getting married. One weekend, Richelle and Wendy were discussing this very topic and came up the only weekend in November that "worked." I had told them that we didn't want to wait until spring and that it couldn't be March or April anyway.

After the sisters talked about November 8th and then informed me about November 8th...I started joking with Mike about November 8th. It started out a joke, but after I switched jobs at work, and those few hours became less...we BOTH started talking about November 8th!! Then the talk went back to all the other stuff and life continued on in this fashion. He made an appointment with a jeweler, but said he missed the appointment. He refused to call and make a new appointment and stopped wanting to talk about all of it. Until we were at dinner with some friends of Mike last weekend.

Last Saturday night we had dinner with some friends I hadn't met, Brandon and Christina. I had heard quite a bit about them, but with some of life's interesting facts over the last (nearly) 3 years, there just hadn't been an opportunity to meet them. We met for dinner at one of our favorite places, Fajitas!! It was so nice to finally meet them and it seemed like I had known them for years!!

Near the end of dinner, Mike decided (on his own) to tell them to leave November 8th open...because we would be getting married that day!! (Those are my words, but the words he said...meant the same thing...I just can't remember then right now.) I was shocked!! Don't get me wrong...I was ecstatic, but shocked. He was holding my hand and squeezed it a little tighter when he said it...I was overjoyed.

Overjoyed, but not engaged...and had we set the date? Officially? Was he going to propose? Did he want me to start planning? Holy Crap!! He told me that November 8th was the date and that it was okay to start getting the plans in order. He told me he would take care of the ring and and all the other stuff...just to be patient. So I immediately started planning...November 8th was exactly 90 days away.

As the week moved forward, I told my family, and plans started to take shape...Mike started the very next day telling me to "slow down" and to "relax" and was really makin' me mad!! I was SO confused...the next day he would tell me to keep planning and that November 8th was OUR date. So I'd plan...and then the cycle would repeat. Finally on Friday night I was MAD!! He had been back and forth ALL week and I was going nuts!! I kept telling him that if November 8th was too soon or this wasn't something that HE wanted, or if he wasn't ready yet that he needed to tell me...I only want to marry him if it's what HE wants too. OMG I was SO frustrated...and now crying and mad and confused!!

After the above discussion on Friday, like clockwork Mike told me to continue planning....I was gonna scream!!

One of reasons for ALL this drama was that he felt stupid that we were planning a wedding, but not "engaged." I had no ring and no proposal. I told him I didn't care...that's not what matters any how. BUT if the ring was so important...then GO BUY ONE!! AGH!! And the cycle continued...

Saturday the 15th, I had been invited to Sarah's (sister-in-law!! YEA!!) baby shower and then my parents had invited us to dinner at their home for my dad's birthday. Timing was NOT on our side!! We had too much to get done and not enough time to get it done before the parties.

Plus...Mike was back on the fence, but this time it wasn't about marriage (a topic I refused to talk about AT ALL on Saturday)....he couldn't decide how we were going to get to the parties. We had one plan one minute and then an plan that was opposite the next!! And the cycle continued until we were driving separate cars...which was NOT my idea!!

After the shower and Mike's lunch with his dad and brother...we both drove separately up to my dad's house. Of course we talked on the phone to each other the entire time we drove...and pulled in at nearly the same time...but it made me sad that we weren't "together." Plus, Mike had been acting strange all day...just not quite himself. I was POSITIVE that he was going to break the news that he had changed his mind and wasn't ready to marry me quite yet...my dad made ribs for dinner and Mike only had a couple...something wasn't right.

At one point, I walked over to where Mike was and hugged him...he wasn't really hugging me back and then he started hitting my arm. He kept asking "What is that?" I didn't even pay him any attention...I was just enjoying myself getting to hug on him and actually spend time with him in person and NOT over the phone. But he continued to hit me...and continued to ask until I was curious/annoyed enough to stop hugging and look.

I was a box, about the size of a shoebox, that was wrapped in white paper with pink hearts...inside the hearts was the word "love." He told me to go sit on the couch and handed me the box. I was pretty sure I knew what was going on, but TOTALLY caught off guard...I NEVER would have guessed he would ask me to marry him in front of my whole family!! I had been looking for "signs," hints, etc for weeks...days...hours, but I had stopped looking.

He sat me down and gathered everyone around...he was SO nervous, but so was I!! It's funny that I had been waiting for that very moment everyday of my life, and I was nervous!! But as it started to happen, and Mike read a "story" about how we became "US"...the nervousness turned into joy. As he stood up in front of me, reading what his heart and written, I felt such peace and contentment. I couldn't believe it was actually happening...and that the man of my dreams was asking me to marry him!! And he was doing it in front of my dad!!

He read of our journey together, and then knelt on one knee before me...he asked me to open my package...so I did. I found a can of old sardines!! All I could think was that the ring was some how stuffed in that nasty little box and would STINK!! As I momentarily panicked, he opened a much smaller box and asked me, "Will you marry me?" I tried my best to answer him, but the words wouldn't come out!! I finally got a "YES!" out, but I think only Mike could hear me.

After that, my brain could only think one thought..."YEA!! I'm getting married!!"

I just hope Mike truly knows how much I love him and how happy I am to have found him. For years, I was unable to believe I would find happiness and the true meaning of "joy." I honestly thought that maybe the life I was living was as good as it gets.

Luckily for me, I found Mike and for whatever reason he decided to pick me!! I think he's crazy, but he asked, I said yes and there's NO gettin' out of it now!!